Mark Murphy: Packers “hopeful” to have Brett Favre back at Lambeau soon

Posted by Josh Alper on April 16, 2014, 9:42 AM EST

Reuters

Brett Favre hasn’t been back to Lambeau in anything other than a Vikings uniform since he left the Packers for the Jets before the 2008 season, but president Mark Murphy said that isn’t because the team isn’t interested in honoring their former quarterback.

Murphy said he wanted to have Favre “back in the family” last year and Favre also opened the door to a reconciliation, although the question of when he’ll walk through it remains unanswered.

While speaking at the team’s Tailgate Tour on Tuesday, Murphy said that the Packers wanted to have Favre back for a game during the 2013 season but that his gig as offensive coordinator for Oak Grove High School got in the way when the team advanced to the state title in Mississippi. That made a return to Lambeau impossible, but Favre is reportedly stepping down for that job and Murphy hopes that means the long-awaited reunion can finally take place.

“We do have ongoing communications with him, and I think relations are good,” Murphy said, via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We’re hopeful to have him come back soon. We wanted to have him come back to a game last year, (but) his team kept winning and winning, so it kind of made it tough to find a time where it worked.”

Favre is likely to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016, his first year of eligibility and Murphy’s words make it seem likely that his return to Green Bay will come before he gets enshrined in Canton.

25 responses to “Mark Murphy: Packers “hopeful” to have Brett Favre back at Lambeau soon”

Packer fans are the biggest hypocrits. When he was with the Vikings, they all called him “Brent” and talked about how overrated he was. Now they will all conveniently forget all of that talk about how great he was. They will never admit the best statistical year of his career was with the Vikings.

Man, ill tell you, since Favre has left this great game, I now respect my former nemesis so much. Couldn’t stand him when he played, but this guy was a damn warrior and I don’t know if hell ever get the respect that he truly deserves when people talk about the all time greats.

diveleft says:
Apr 16, 2014 10:00 AM
Packer fans are the biggest hypocrits. When he was with the Vikings, they all called him “Brent” and talked about how overrated he was. Now they will all conveniently forget all of that talk about how great he was. They will never admit the best statistical year of his career was with the Vikings.
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See that’s the difference between Viking fans and Packer fans. Packer fans care about only one statistic. Championships.

By that statistic, 1996 was Favre’s best statistical year – when he was a Packer.

Not true that we all called him Brent during his stint with the Vikings, although I will admit to enjoying the across-the-body, across-the-field interception in the NFC championship game. Not that he’s the main reason for that loss, most of it falls on Chilly and AD, but still fun to watch just the same.

You think they’d wait until after he was enshrined in the HOF and had helped heal any wounds by enthusiastically thanking the Packer organization and its fans in his acceptance speech. Everyone knows he’s a Packer for cripes sake, despite the couple incredibly entertaining angst-inducing years he spent with the Vikes.

Brett had earned the right to go out on his own terms. He brought that franchise back from the dead and they thanked him by showing him the door. He should never go back to that ungrateful team and he should go to Canton as a Viking.

I grew up a Packer’s fan during the Favre era… and learning about is troubles with addiction taught me a lot about the troubles some people can have with that kind of issue. And seeing the very public problems he and his family had over the years made me feel for them.

Seeing him more or less “let go” really taught me a lot about football from a team perspective, a fan perspective, and a player persective.

The weiner pics and some of the other things that went on after he left made me dislike him as a person (as with anyone fooling around on their wife in my eyes). I still think he’s probably a scummier person that I’d ever care to associate with in real life. But he was an extremely entertaining football player to watch and he never killed anyone like Ray Lewis or Aaron Hernandez.

I’m absolutely still a Packer fan, but I’ve also found myself less likely to be “fans” of any particular player because of the things that happened during that time frame. It’s a business… they are entertainers…

Look at how Peyton Manning left Indy for a textbook way on how to “sell” a departure.

Let’s face it… Irsay is a blanking idiot. But he knew better than to alienate what amounts to “The Colts” for the better part of 20 years.

Peyton Manning is a very likeable guy and he very much sold his departure well. But there’s no way there’s not something deep down that isn’t upset that that is the way it had to end in Indy for him.

The difference is the maturity of the QBs in each of the circumstances. Favre just isn’t the same kind of person as Peyton Manning and that’s what it comes down to… I don’t know what the right term is, but take your pick: Maturity, class, dignity, etc. Favre chose a different road… because if you think the team side of either of those situations were very different than each other you need to open your eyes a bit.

Hopefully, he doesn’t do it for the fanbase. The majority of which burned his jersey, hung him in effigy, called him names, booed him, wanted his street re-named. They turned their backs on possibly the most important player in GB modern history. They don’t deserve him acknowledging them at all.

I can understand how Viking fans think Packer fans don’t “deserve” Favre. Packer fans are loyal to the team first, and Favre’s attempts to control management came to a breaking point. In hindsight, it worked out better for the Packers. They had a future HOF quarterback waiting in the wings, and it ended up working out well, considering they won a Super Bowl.

Management and the fanbase could not justify the integrity of the team for one player, regardless of who he is. Favre now understands that and has said as much. Now, the Viking brass groveled enough to pick him up at the airport and bury the future of the team in the process…with still no ring to show for it. .

So, in review. Integrity, loyalty, honor, and championships. It’s no wonder a Minnesotan couldn’t understand any of these foreign concepts.